Apparatus for severing wrapped tobacco rods or the like

ABSTRACT

A severing apparatus for cigarettes rods wherein a knife orbits along an endless path which intersects the path of the rod and wherein the knife moves during severing in the same direction and at the speed of movement of the rod employs a tubular guide assembly which surrounds the rod and constitutes a counterknife for the orbiting knife. The drive for the knife includes a Rzeppa joint and the drive which oscillates the guide assembly employs a Hooke&#39;&#39;s joint or an eccentric drive to thus reduce noise when the knife severs the rod at the rate of up to 70 cuts per second. The guide assembly is mounted on the light metal arms of a carrier whose shaft is turnable in fixed bearings by a pair of motion transmitting pins which form part of the Hooke&#39;&#39;s joint or by a fork which forms part of the eccentric drive. When the drive for the guide assembly employs a Hooke&#39;&#39;s joint, its input shaft is parallel to the input shaft of the drive for the knife, and one of these input shafts drives the other input shaft by a train of spur gears or by a power train which utilizes a toothed belt.

Elite States atent [191 Bardenhagen 1 APPARATUS FOR SEVERING WRAPPEDTOBACCO RODS OR THE LIKE [75] Inventor: Dietrich Bardenhagen, Hamburg,

Germany [73] Assignee: Hauni-Werke Koerber & Co. KG,

Hamburg, Germany 221 Filed: Apr. 2, 1973 21 Appl.No.:347,346

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data [111 3,815,460 1 June it, 1974Primary Examiner-Frank T. Yost Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S.Striker [57] ABSTRACT A severing apparatus for cigarettes rods wherein aknife orbits along an endless path which intersects the path of the rodand wherein the knife moves during severing in the same direction and atthe speed of movement of the rod employs a tubular guide assembly whichsurrounds the rod and constitutes a counterknife for the orbiting knife.The drive for the knife includes a Rzeppa joint and the drive whichoscillates the guide assembly employs a l-lookes joint or an eccentricdrive to thus reduce noise when the knife severs the rod at the rate ofup to 70 cuts per second. The guide assembly is mounted on the lightmetal arms of a carrier whose shaft is tumable in fixed bearings by apair of motion transmitting pins which form part of the Hookes joint orby a fork which forms part of the eccentric drive. When the drive forthe guide assembly employs a Hooke's joint, its input shaft is parallelto the input shaft of the drive for the knife, and one of these inputshafts drives the other input shaft by a train of spur gears or by apower train which utilizes a toothed belt.

15 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUR 1 1 can SHEET 1 BF 4 Q m: MR fih. L w & N R w 0!. Q. v x o r Q U a w i PM ll G H Q N y 5 i Q m Q H \NPATENTEDJUH 1 1 I914 38153460 saw u or 4 Fig. 6 47 APPARATUS FORSEVERING WRAPPED TOBACCO RODS OR THE LIKE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION IThe present invention relates to improvements in apparatus for severingrods of the type wherein a fibrous filler of tobacco and/or filtermaterial is surrounded by a tubular wrapper consisting of cigarettepaper or the like. More particularly, the invention relates toimprovcments in severing apparatus of the type wherein a knife orbitsalong an endless path a portion of which intersects the path oflengthwise movement of the rod and wherein the knife moves sideways inthe same direction and at the speed of movement of the rod duringsevering. Such severing apparatus are used in machines for theproduction of plain or filter tipped cigarettes, cigars or cigarillos,as well as in machines for the production of filter rod sections.

In presently known severing apparatus (also known a as cutoffs) whichare used in cigarette making or like machines, the rod which is to besevered passes through a guide assembly which moves back and forth inand counter to the direction of lengthwise movement of the rod andcooperates with the knife during severing by acting not unlike acounterknife in order to insure the formation of clean cuts. Since amodern cigarette making machine can turn out up to and in excess of4,000

cigarettes per minute, the rod which is to be severed must betransported lengthwise at a very high speed (normally in the range of350 meters per minute). Therefore, the guide assembly must be oscillatedat a very high frequency and its movements must be accuratelysynchronized with lengthwise movement of the rod as well as with theorbiting and sidewise movements of-the knife in order to insure that therodis invariably severed in planes which are exactly normal to its axis.

As a rule, a guide assembly is a tube which is formed with a notchthrough which the knife travels during severing of the rod. The tube ismounted on strong leaf springs and is driven by the arm of a crank drivein syn chronism with the knife. Such drive means for the guide assemblyis satisfactory when the rod is conveyed at a relatively low speed.However, when the rod is to yield up to and in excess of 70 sections(plain or filter cigarettes, cigars or cigarillos or filter rodsections) per SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is toprovide a severing apparatus for a rod wherein a fibrous filler issurrounded by a tubular wrapper which is quieter, longer lasting andmore compact than heretofore known severing apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a severing apparatuswherein the mass of component parts of the drive means for the guideassembly is only a small fraction of the mass of component parts ofconventional drive means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine which can beused for the making of a continuous rod wherein a fibrous filler oftobacco and/or filter material is surrounded by a tubular wrapper ofpaper or the like and which embodies the improved severing apparatus.

An additional object of the invention is to provide the severingapparatus with novel and improved means for oscillating the guideassembly which surrounds the rod to be severed in the region where thepath for the rod is intersected by the path for one or more orbitingknives.

Still another object of the invention is to provide novel and improveduniversal and torque-transmitting joints for use in severing apparatusof the above outlined character.

The invention is embodied in an apparatus for severing a rod wherein afibrous filler is surrounded by a tutioned portion of the second path,a'guide assembly which at least partially surrounds the rod, in thefirst path in the region of the aforementioned portion of the secondpath, and second drive means for. moving the guide assembly back andforth in and counter to the direction of movement of the rod so that theguide assembly moves in the direction of travel of the rod and at thespeed of movement of the rod during travel of the knifealong theaforementioned portion of the second path.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, the second drive meanscomprises fixed bearing means, carrier means including 'a shaft or ananalogous member which is turnably mounted in the bearing means and armmeans extending from the shaft and fixedly supporting the guide assemblyat a point which is remote from the shaft, and oscillating means whichserves to turn the shaft in the bearing means back and forth andincludes a motion transmitting portion (e.g., one or more pins or afork) which is connected with the shaft in immediate or close proximityof the bearing means.

The arm means of the carrier means preferably constitutes a simplecantilever beam one end of which is rigid with the shaft of the carriermeans and the other end of which is rigid with a supporting plate forthe guide assembly. The motion transmitting portion of the oscillatingmeans is preferably connected with the shaft in such a way that itshares the angular movements of the shaft relative to the bearing means.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic of theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theimproved severing apparatus itself, however, both as to its constructionand its mode of operation, together with additional features andadvantages thereof, will be best understood upon perusal 'of thefollowing detailed dedscription of certain specific embodiments withreference to the accompanying drawing. 1

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic side eievationalview of a cigarette rod making machine including a severing apparatuswhich embodies one form of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partly elevationai and partly sectional view ofthe severing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary partly elevational and partlysectional view as seen in the direction of arrows from the line III-IIIof FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged axial sectional view of a joint in the apparatusof FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary end elevational view of the joint as seen in thedirection of arrow V in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a partly elevational and partly sectional view of a secondsevering apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 1,there is shown a cigarette rod making machine of the type known asGARANT produced by the West German firm of Hauni-Werke,I-Iamburg-Bergedorf. The cigarette rod making machine comprises adistributor 1 which contains a supply of shredded tobacco and includesmeans for showering tobacco into an elongated tobacco channel 2 whichaccumulates a growing narrow tobacco stream on the upper stretch of anendless tobacco transporting belt 3. The tobacco stream which is formedin the channel 2 is transported by the belt 3 into the circumferentialgroove of a suction wheel 4 which rotates in a counterclockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. 1, and has a rotating perforated wall inthe bottom region of the circumferential groove as well as a stationarysuction chamber which is surrounded by the perforated wall. The suctionchamber insures that the tobacco stream which is delivered by the belt 3adheres to the perforated wall during transport through an angle of alittle less than 180. The suction at the inner side of theperforatedwall brings about a certain compression of the tobacco stream, and thethus compacted tobacco stream is equalized by a customary trimmingdevice 6 which converts the stream into a rod-like tobacco tiller 7. Thesurplus of tobacco which is removed by the trimming device 6 ispreferably returned into the main supply of shredded tobacco in thedistributor l.

The filler 7 is removed from the circumferential groove of the suctionwheel 4 by a stripping finger 8 and is attracted to the underside of anendless transfer conveyor 9 whose lower stretch travels below astationary suction chamber 9a and consists of foraminous material. Thetiller 7 is transferred onto the upper stretch of an endless garniturebelt 14 which also receives and advances a running web 11 of cigarettepaper. The web 11 is being withdrawn from an expiring roll 12 ofcigarette paper and passes through a splicing device 10 which alsoreceives the leading end of a fresh web 11A of cigarette paper. Thefresh web 11A is stored on a fresh roll 12A. A detector 10A scans thediameter of the expiring roll 12 and produces a signal when the diameterof the roll 12 decreases to a predetermined minimum value. Such signalactuates the splicing device 10 which then connects the running web 11to the leading end of the fresh web 11A. The exact construction of thesplicing device 10 forms no part of the present invention. The runningweb 11 advances through an imprinting device 13 which provideslongitudinally spaced portions of the web 11 with indicia representingthe trademark of the manufacturer, the name of the manufacturer and/orother information. The upper stretch of the belt 14 transports the web11 and the filler 7 through a conventional wrapping mechanism 16 whereinthe web 11 is draped around the filler so that one of its marginalportions extend upwardly and substantially tangentialy of the filler andis coated with adhesive by a paster 17. The thus coated marginal portionis thereupon folded over the other marginal portion to form therewith aseam which is heated by a sealer 18 to cause the adhesive to set. Theresulting cigarette rod 19 is advanced through a severing apparatus orcutoff 21 which includes a guide assembly 22 and an orbiting knife orcutter 25 cooperating with the guide assembly to sever the cigarette rod19 at regular intervals so that the cigarette rod yields a single fileof discrete plain cigarettes of unit length or multiple unit length.Successive plain cigarettes are accelerated by a rotary cam 23 whichpropels the cigarettes into successive flutes of a continuously rotatingdrum-shaped transfer conveyor 24. The conveyor 24 converts thesinglefile of plain cigarettes into one or more rows of plain cigaretteswhich travel sideways and are introduced into a conventional filtercigarette making machine (not shown), into a tray filling machine (notshown) or directly into a packing machine (not shown). The referencecharacter 20 denotes the main prime mover of the cigarette rod makingmachine. This prime mover drives the suction wheel 4, the belts 3 and14, the conveyors 9 and 24, the accelerating device 23, and the movableparts of the severing apparatus 21 at one or more predetermined speeds.The belt 14 constitutes a conveyor which advances the cigarette rod 19lengthwise in the direction indicated by an arrow 19A and at apredetermined speed depending on the RPM of the prim mover 20. 1

The details of the improved severing apparatus or cutoff 21are'illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. The guide assembly 22 comprises twocoaxial tubes 26 and 27 having aligned axial bores or passages 28 (onlyone shown). The diameter of each bore 28 slightly exceeds the diameterof the cigarette rod 19 which passes through and is severed by the knife25 in the space between the tubes 26 and 27. The tubes 26 and 27 aresecured to or made integral with a supporting plate 29 which is rigidwith the upper end portions of two flat arms 32, 33 of a carrier 31. Thearms 32 and 33 preferably consist of a light metal and their planes areparallel to the common axis of the bores 28 in the tubes 26 and 27. Thelower end portions of the arms 32 and 33 are rigid with a horizontalshaft 34 which is turnable in stationary bearings 36 and 37. In additionto the arms 32 and 33, the carrier 31 includes the supporting plate 29and the shaft 34.

The drive means which serves to move the tubes 26, 27 back and forth inand counter to the direction indicated by the arrow 19A includes thecarrier 31 and a universal joint 38 of the type known as I-Iookes joint.The joint 38 constitutes a means for oscillating the shaft 34 back andforth in the bearings 36, 37 and comprises a fork 39 having two prongs39A which rotatably support two coaxial motion transmitting pins 41which are rigid with the shaft 34 in immediate proximity of the bearings36, 37. A stub 39A of the fork 39 is received in the inner race of ananti-friction bearing 42 which is eccentrically mounted in a rotarydriver disk 43 mounted on an input shaft 44 which carries a spur gear 46preferably having a helical thread. The gear 46 meshes with a largerspur gear 47 which is mounted on a shaft 47a and further meshes with athird spur gear on an input shaft 49. The input shaft 49 is parallelwith the input shaft 44 and forms part of a drive means which moves theknife 25 along an endless path through the intermediary of an outputshaft 52, a housing 51 and a specially designed torque transmittingjoint 53 of the type known as Rzeppa joint the details of which areillustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The torque transmitting joint 53 issimilar to those which are used in the front axle drives of automotivevehicles.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the torque transmitting joint 53 comprises acup-shaped outer member 54 which is rigid or integral with the inputshaft 49 and spherical inner member 59 which is received in thespherical socket of the outer member 54. The internal surface of theouter member 54 is formed with six equidistant arcuate tracks 56 in theform of grooves each of which receives a portion of a discrete sphericalelement 57. The six spherical elements 57 are mounted in a cage 58 whichis disposed between the members 54 and 59. The member 59 has an externalsurface which is also provided with six equidistant arcuate tracks inthe form of grooves 61 each of which receives a portion of a sphericalelement 57. The inner member 59 has a bore 62 with axially parallelteeth which mesh with similar teeth on the output shaft 52. The outputshaft 52 is held against axial movement by a split ring (not shown)which extends into the internal groove 63 of the spherical member 59 andinto a complementary groove machined into the periphery of the outputshaft 52. The torque transmitting joint 53 enables the output shaft 52to swivel relative to the input shaft 49 while it shares the angularmovement of the shaft 49. The exact construction of the mechanism in theinterior of the housing 51 forms no part of the present invention.Reference may be had to US. Pat. No. 3,518,911 granted July 7, 1970 toNiemann et al'. and owned by the assignee of the present application. Itsuffices to say that the knife 25 orbits along an endless pathsurrounding the output shaft 52 at a speed which is synchronized withthe speed of lengthwise movement of the cigarette rod 19 and that theblade of the knife 25 is normal to the axis of the rod 19 at the timewhen the knife 25 travels along that portion of the endless path whichextends through the gap between the tubes 26 and 27 of the guideassembly 22. During travel in the gap between the tubes 26, 27, theknife 25 moves in the direction indicated by the arrow 19A and at thespeed of the cigarette rod 19.

The operation of the severing apparatus 21 is as follows:

The input shaft 49 receives torque from the prime mover 20 of thecigarette rod making machine shown in P16. 1 which latter also drivesthe conveyor belt 14 so that the rotary movement of the output shaft 52is synchronized with lengthwise movement of the cigarette rod 19. Theinput shaft 49 drives the housing 51 by way of the torque transmittingjoint 53 and output shaft 52. At the same time, the power trainincluding the gears 48, 47, 46 with helical .teeth drives the inputshaft 44 for the driver disk 43. The disk 43 causes the bearing 42 tooscillate the fork 39 of the universal joint 38 about the axis of shaft34. The shaft 34 shares such oscillatory movement because it is rigidwith the motion transmitting pins 41 which are rotatable in the prongs39a of the fork 39 and oscillates the carrier 31 which in turn moves thetubes 26 and 27 back and forth in and counter to the direction oflengthwise movement of the cigarette rod 19 (arrow 19A). When the disk43 rotates, the anti-friction bearing 42 causes the stub 39A to orbitabout the axis of the input shaft 44 at a speed which is proportional tothe speed of lengthwise movement of the cigarette rod 19. The carrier 31oscillates in a plane which includes the axis of the cigarette rod 19.When the antifriction bearing 42 reaches its upper dead center position,the carrier 31 maintains the tubes 26 and 27 in a left-hand endposition, as viewed in FIG. 1 or 2. Such end position of the tubes 26and 27 is shown in FIG. 2. When the antifriction bearing 42 reaches itslower dead center position, the tubes 26 and 27 assume their right-handend positions. The arrangement is such that the tubes 26 and 27 travelwith and at the exact speed of the cigarette rod 19 when the knife 25approaches, passes through and moves beyond the gap between the bores 28of the tubes 26 and 27.

These tubes act as a counterknife for the knife 25 and cooperatetherewith to insure the formation of clean cuts each of which is locatedin a plane that is normal to the axis of the cigarette rod 19. Duringtravel through the gap between the'tubes 26 and 27, the knife 25 notonly orbits about the output shaft 52 but also moves sideways in thesame direction and at the exact speed of lengthwise movement of thecigarette rod 19.

The surfaces surrounding the bores 28 in the tubes 26 and 27 support thewrapper of the cigarette rod 19 during severing. Due to its movementabout the axis of the shaft 34 while the knife 25 severs the rod l9, thecarrier 31 insures that the angular positions of the tubes 26 and 27change substantially in the same way as the angular position of theknife 25 which orbits about the output shaft 52 and simultaneouslyswivels with this shaft and the spherical inner member 59 of the torquetransmitting joint 53 relative to the outer member 54.

It has been found that the interposition of the Hookes joint 38 betweenthe shafts 34 and 44 of the drive means for the guide assembly 22results in a substantial reduction of noise. A further reduction ofnoise is attributed to the fact that the input shaft 49 of the drivemeans for the knife 25 is parallel to the input shaft 44 of the drivemeans for the guide assembly 22; this renders it possible to connect theshafts 44 and 49 by a power train which employs simple spur gears. Suchgears produce less noise than other types of power trains.

The inclination of the axis of the output shaft 52 relative to the axisof the rod 19 is about 7 degrees. Such inclination is necessary in orderto insure that the knife 25 will move in the direction indicated by thearrow 19A during travel in the gap between the tubes 26, 27 of the guideassembly 22. In presently known severing apparatus, the slightlyinclined shaft which carries the housing for the knife is driven by aset of bevel gears. it has been found that the Rzeppa joint 53constitutes a superior substitute for such bevel gears because itcreates much less noise. Additional reduction of noise is achieved byutilizing a carrier whose arm or arms consist of sheets of light metal.Such light metal arms replace leafsprings which are used in conventionalsevering apparatus. Since the planes of the arms 32, 33 are preferablylocated in parallel planes which are normal to the axis of the shaft 34,these arms encounter minimal resistance to oscillation and thus createminimal turbulence in the surrounding air. This also contributes to areduction of noise.

The power train including the gears 46-48 can be modified by replacingthe gear 47 with a toothed belt trained over the gears 46, 48.

FIG. 6 illustrates a modified severing apparatus 121 wherein all suchparts which are identical with or clearly analogous to the correspondingparts of the severi'ng apparatus 21 are denoted by similar referencecharacters plus 100. The only difference between the apparatus 21 and121 is that the apparatus 121 comprises a different mechanism foroscillating the carrier 131 and the tubes 126, 127 of the guide assembly122 about the axis of the shaft 134. The oscillating mechanism for thecarrier 131 is an eccentric drive 166 having a motion-transmitting fork172 one end of which is rigid with the shaft 134 and the other end ofwhich is bifurcated to receive an antifriction bearing 169 surroundingan eccentric pin 171 of a driver disk 168 rotated by an input shaft 167corresponding to the input shaft 44 of FIG. 2 but being parallel to theshaft 134. The input shaft 149 ofthe drive for the knife: 125 can rotatethe input shaft 167 of the drive for the guide assembly 122 through theintermediary of a power train including a spur gear 147 shown in theupper portion of FIG. 6 and additional gears which preferably include apair of bevel gears because the axis of the input shaft 149 is normal tothe axis of the input shaft 167. The eccentric drive 166 serves toconvert the rotary movement of the input shaft 167 into oscillatorymovement of the carrier 131 and guide assembly 122. The shaft 134 isrigid with the lower end portions of the arms 132, 133 of the carrier131. These arms preferably consist of light metal.

The operation of the severing apparatus 121 is as follows:

The input shaft 167 is driven by the power train including the gear 148and rotates the driver disk 168. This causes the eccentric pin 171 andthe antifriction bearing 169 to oscillate the motion transmitting fork172 with the shaft 134 which turns in the bearings 136,

137 and oscillates the carrier 131 together with the tubes 126 and 127of the guide assembly 122. The cigarette rod 119 passes through theaxial bores 1.28 of the tubes 126, 127 and is severed in the same way asdescribed in connection with FIGS. 2 to 5.

An important advantage of the improved severing apparatus is that theoscillatory movements of the carriers 31 and 131 create very littlenoise and also that the inertia of oscillating parts is extremely small.This is attributed to the lightweight construction of the oscillat ingparts which include the aforementioned arms 32, 33 and 132, 133. Thereduced inertia of oscillating parts reduces the wear so that theelements of the severing apparatus have much longer useful life: thanthe corresponding elements of conventional severing apparatus. Thereduction of noise is especially pronounced in the presently preferredembodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3 because the antifriction bearing 42 isrecessed into the driver disk 43 and also because the parts of theuniversal joint 33 need not reverse the direction of their movement. 1

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge,readily adapt it for various applications without omitting featureswhich fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic andspecific aspects of my contribution to the art and, therefore, suchadaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within themeaning and range of equivalence of the claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended claims:

1. Apparatus for severing a rod wherein a fibrous filler is surroundedby a tubular wrapper of paper or the like, comprising conveyor means foradvancing a rod lengthwise in a predetermined direction and at apredetermined speed along a first path; at least one knife; first drivemeans for moving said knife along an endless second path a portion ofwhich intersects said first path and for moving said knife in saiddirection and at said speed during travel along said portion of saidsecond path; a guide assembly at least partially surrounding the rod insaid first path in the region of said portion of said second path; andsecond drive means for moving said guide assembly back and forth in andcounter to said direction so that said guide assembly moves in saiddirection and at said speed during travel of said knife along saidportion of said second path, comprising bearing means, carrier meansincluding a member turnably mounted in said bearing means and arm meansex tending from said member and supporting said guide assembly andoscillating means for turning said member back and forth in said bearingmeans and including a motion transmitting portion connected with saidmember in immediate proximity of said bearing means.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said bearing means includesat least one fixed bearing and said guide assembly is rigid with saidcarrier means.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the axis of said member isnormal to and crosses in space with said first path.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said arm means oscillates ina predetermined plane in response to turning of said member in saidbearing means and wherein said motion transmitting portion of saidoscillating means shares the movements of said member in said bearingmeans.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said motion transmittingportion extends substantially or radially from said member.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said oscillating meansfurther includes a rotary driver element and means for converting therotary movement of said driver element into oscillatory movement of saidmotion transmitting portion.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said first drive meanscomprises a first rotary input element and said second drive meansfurther comprises a second rotary input element and a power trainconnecting said first input element to said second input element, theaxis of said second input element being normal to the axis of said firstinput element.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said oscillating meanscomprises an eccentric drive including said motion transmitting portion.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said oscillating meanscomprises a universal joint including said motion transmitting portion.

10. Apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein said universal joint is aHookes joint.

11. Apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein said first drive meanscomprises a rotary input element and said second drive means furthercomprises a second rotary input element for said joint and a power trainconnecting said input elements, the axis of said second input elementbeing parallel to the axis of said first input element.

12. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said arm means comprises atleast one light metal plate, said arm means being oscillatable by saidmember in a predetermitting joint articulately connecting said inputelement 5 with said output element.

15. Apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein said joint is a Rzeppajoint.

1. Apparatus for severing a rod wherein a fibrous filler is surroundedby a tubular wrapper of paper or the like, comprising conveyor means foradvancing a rod lengthwise in a predetermined direction and at apredetermined speed along a first path; at least one knife; first drivemeans for moving said knife along an endless second path a portion ofwhich intersects said first path and for moving said knife in saiddirection and at said speed during travel along said portion of saidsecond path; a guide assembly at least partially surrounding the rod insaid first path in the region of said portion of said second path; andsecond drive means for moving said guide assembly back and forth in andcounter to said direction so that said guide assembly moves in saiddirection and at said speed during travel of said knife along saidportion of said second path, comprising bearing means, carrier meansincluding a member turnably mounted in said bearing means and arm meansextending from said member and supporting said guide assembly andoscillating means for turning said member back and forth in said bearingmeans and including a motion transmitting portion connected with saidmember in immediate proximity of said bearing means.
 2. Apparatus asdefined in claim 1, wherein said bearing means includes at least onefixed bearing and said guide assembly is rigid with said carrier means.3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the axis of said member isnormal to and crosses in space with said first path.
 4. Apparatus asdefined in claim 1, wherein said arm means oscillates in a predeterminedplane in response to turning of said member in said bearing means andwherein saId motion transmitting portion of said oscillating meansshares the movements of said member in said bearing means.
 5. Apparatusas defined in claim 4, wherein said motion transmitting portion extendssubstantially or radially from said member.
 6. Apparatus as defined inclaim 1, wherein said oscillating means further includes a rotary driverelement and means for converting the rotary movement of said driverelement into oscillatory movement of said motion transmitting portion.7. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said first drive meanscomprises a first rotary input element and said second drive meansfurther comprises a second rotary input element and a power trainconnecting said first input element to said second input element, theaxis of said second input element being normal to the axis of said firstinput element.
 8. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein saidoscillating means comprises an eccentric drive including said motiontransmitting portion.
 9. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein saidoscillating means comprises a universal joint including said motiontransmitting portion.
 10. Apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein saiduniversal joint is a Hooke''s joint.
 11. Apparatus as defined in claim9, wherein said first drive means comprises a rotary input element andsaid second drive means further comprises a second rotary input elementfor said joint and a power train connecting said input elements, theaxis of said second input element being parallel to the axis of saidfirst input element.
 12. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein saidarm means comprises at least one light metal plate, said arm means beingoscillatable by said member in a predetermined plane which includes theplane of said light metal plate.
 13. Apparatus as defined in claim 12,wherein said arm means comprises a plurality of parallel light metalplates.
 14. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said first drivemeans comprises a rotary input element, a rotary output element, ahousing connected with said output element and supporting said knife,and a torque transmitting joint articulately connecting said inputelement with said output element.
 15. Apparatus as defined in claim 14,wherein said joint is a Rzeppa joint.